K890,000 sets work started on new film studio

THE National Film Institute and the National Cultural Commission will finally replace a burnt down studio. 
The studio that housed the filming equipment, offices, documents, files and archives was destroyed in 1998 when the building went up in flames.
The institute is one of the commission’s institutions based in Goroka, Eastern Highlands.
Commission executive director Dr Jacob Simet on Monday presented three cheques worth K890,000 as the final payment to the Department of Works for its local government technical services team to start work on the construction of the complex.
Simet said the project was overdue because of issues over land on which the studio was to be built.
“This is the final payment for the project. Two separate payments on instalments were made in Madang and Goroka,” he said.
He said they lost the first studio with all footage, documents, files and archives in 1998 when a fire gutted the building that housed the studio.
Simet said he was happy they got what they had been waiting for since 1998.